


Odds Are

by urbaninja



Series: Everyone Lives [3]
Category: Red vs. Blue
Genre: Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-30
Updated: 2013-12-30
Packaged: 2018-01-06 17:03:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,169
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1109340
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/urbaninja/pseuds/urbaninja
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Having been given an unexpected second chance at life, Florida makes it a goal to make sure everyone else lives as well.</p>
<p>A continuation of Everyone Lives, taking place just after Season 5 of Red vs Blue.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Odds Are

**Author's Note:**

> The odds are that we will probably be alright  
> Odds are we're gonna be alright, odds are we're gonna be alright tonight
> 
> -Odds Are. Barenaked Ladies.

Florida never blames the Alpha for killing him. He has an obscure allergy, and it’s not Church’s fault for not knowing that. He should have asked beforehand.

His only regret is failing in his mission and being unable to protect the Alpha further. 

He never learns that his death will herald in a tradition of Blue team killing its leaders on a regular basis.

\--

He doesn’t remember being dead.

He awakes as if from a long sleep, only aware that things don’t seem quite right. Like his body doesn’t feel like it’s his. Nothing’s moving the way he wants it to, and he’d like nothing more than to remove his armor (No. Not his armor. His was teal...aqua…sea foam green…) and breathe properly for a moment even if it is stale cave air. 

Sensations are bombarding him and it’s hard to think before he’s suddenly aware of another presence in his mind and he’s practically fighting for a sense of self. 

\--

Omega doesn’t like him.

The AI makes that very clear from the get go, from the moment that Flowers finally manages to wrangle him into submission. Omega had thought he’d have complete control, taking over Flowers shortly after his revival. He’d underestimated just how strong Flowers actually was, mistook his optimism for weakness.

It’s like being stuck with Doc, but without the vegetarianism and hopeless idealism. At Florida is willing to go along with the plan somewhat. 

He still doesn’t like him.

\--

Wyoming joins them about a week later, after taking care of a few loose ends as he calls it. He is surprised to see that Omega is using Flowers as a host, even more so that Flowers has been revived, though he seems to take it all in stride.

It bothers the other agent though. Wyoming doesn’t have a lot of tells but Flowers can pick up on the small ones. He wants to talk to Wyoming but Omega blocks him at every opportunity. Instead, he just wants to focus on the plan. They’ll be putting it into action soon.

There’s one night when Flowers manages to take control and goes to speak to Wyoming. He finds him leaning up against a wall of a cave. A familiar blue hologram hovers beside him, and it’s clear in the faint light that the other freelancer is asleep. 

Seeing Wyoming, it makes Flowers wonder just how long he was dead for. Wyoming looks older to him, the lines on his face more apparent, his hair starting to grey around his temples. It’s still Reggie though. He’d know that moustache anywhere.

There’s a sharp pain and Flowers is on his knees as Omega takes control again. Gamma looks over, possibly concerned but it’s always hard to tell with him and Omega waves him off. 

\--

The plan goes into effect and finally Omega leaves Flowers’s mind as quickly as he appeared. He collapses to the ground.

He wakes up sometime later, suddenly aware of another face staring at him.

“Hey, mister, are you alright?”

It takes Flowers a bit of time to answer. It’s suddenly become very quiet.

“Yeah, I’m fine. What happened?”

“I’m not really sure. One minute you were standing there, and the next you keeled over. I figured I should stick around to make sure you were all right. I know what it’s like to have Omega in your head. He was in mine for a while.”

Flowers nods, trying to sit up and the other, he’s wearing purple armor Flowers registers (brief reminders of the Dakota twins trigger in his mind but this is neither North nor South), helps him. Everything’s starting to come together again, and it occurs to him that he needs to get outside the caves. He needs to see what’s happening with the plan. Something must be going well if Omega left him. 

“You wouldn’t happen to know which way’s out, would you? Or what’s going on, would you son?”

The purple armored man shakes his head. 

“Sorry. I’ve been stuck in the cave this entire time so I don’t know what’s going on. I think that way’s the way out. Are you sure you should move though?”

“I’ll be fine. Believe me, I’ve had worse but I’d appreciate some help getting up.”

Flowers nods his thanks, and makes sure he’ll be okay before he runs out of the cave.

\--

It’s chaos.

Flowers can tell by the myriad clones of Wyoming spread about. While he was familiar with the effects of Wyoming’s equipment, it’s still disconcerting seeing multiple corpses of someone you know. The fighting is still going on elsewhere in the canyon.

He finds he’s reluctant to go over there. He’s not sure which side he would choose. While he’s loyal to the project, he’s not sure he agrees with Omega’s plan, and he certainly doesn’t want to hurt the Reds and Blues. Involving himself might just bring confusion.

He heads to the base, hoping to find a sniper rifle or something that will allow him a better view of what’s going on.

Instead he finds Wyoming, collapsed in a heap and barely alive. He’s bleeding from a strange wound, and Flowers swears he can smell burning. He’s not sure what caused the injury, but what he has to do becomes apparent. 

He takes one more look at the Reds and Blues, before hoisting Wyoming over his shoulder and heading out of the canyon.

He can at least save a life.

\--

He’s forgotten how far away the command post is. Not one of the full scale bases belonging to the project, but one where they could easily report in. Where he reported to, even though there was nothing really to tell.

He can hear Wyoming’s shallow breathing in his ear.

“Hang in there, Reg. We’re almost there.”

\--

She’s less than happy to see him, and almost closes the door in his face.

Florida pleads and eventually 479er relents, letting him in although her reluctance is still plain on her face. Being woken up this late at night is only one of the strikes against Florida.

“What the hell even happened to you guys? That’s roughest shape I’ve seen anyone in a long time.”

“It’s a long story,” Florida replies, letting Wyoming down on the floor of what he assumes is the living room. “Can you call a doctor? A trustworthy one. I don’t know what our statuses are with the project right now.”

“Well, last I heard you were dead, so who knows what their records say,” the former pilot sighs, somewhere between frustration and sarcasm. Florida makes a note to explain it later, if she’ll listen.

\--

It takes Wyoming almost two weeks before he finally wakes up. The Doctor had admitted it was practically a miracle that he was still alive after that. It was a wound unlike any he’d seen before. Wyoming seems just as surprised to be alive.

“You really shouldn’t be trying to sit up,” Florida sighs from the doorframe. Wyoming shrugs. 

“I’ve been lying down long enough.”

“Two weeks, to be exact.” Wyoming gives him a skeptical look. “You were stabbed, Reg.”

“Yes, I seem to recall that.” 

Florida nods apologetically. He’s seen the wound and would rather not bring it up. He moves from the door to the chair in the room. Wyoming is quiet for a moment, and unreadable expression on his face.

“So…what happened with the plan?”

Florida sighs. That’s all Wyoming needs to hear.

“It didn’t work then.”

“No, it did. Just, other factors got in the way. Tex came over to our side but Red Team,” he says the name with a laugh, “Red Team had planted that bomb on the ship. It seems she got away, but there was a time delayed explosion, so I have no clue what happened to her.”

Wyoming nods, processing it all.

“So you ran.”

Florida sighs.

“If you want to call it that, then that’s what I did. But at that point, I don’t think anything I could have done would have changed the outcome.”

The implication of Wyoming’s look hung in the air between them. Florida shakes his head. He couldn’t have done that. Idiots though they might have been, he is very fond of them.

“So, instead you saved me. You really didn’t need to.”

“Yes, I did. I’ve lost enough friends, Reg. At least let me save one life.” It’s said a bit sharper than Florida intended.

There’s another silence, a long one, before Wyoming finally relents.

“Well, regardless, I guess I owe you for that.”

“I’ll put it on your tab,” Florida replies, relieved. “Are you really that bothered about the plan?”

“Not really. It was ridiculous as far as grand schemes go and seemed more a way to keep us busy. Mostly I regret that I lost out on a rather large paycheck.”

“Good to know you haven’t changed at all, Reg.”

\--

Once Florida knows Wyoming’s well on his way to recovery, he decides to leave.

Neither Wyoming or the former Pilot are pleased with the arrangement, but Florida promises to be back soon. He needs to get his old armor back from Blue base, as well as do a bit of information digging as to what’s been going on with Project Freelancer. He’s done his best to keep off the radar for the past few weeks.

If possible, he’s also like to find out what happened to the Red and Blue Teams. Church especially.

\--

Something seems different about the canyon as Flowers walks through it.

Maybe it’s the fact that it’s pretty much empty, or the fact that it’s night. Or the fact that there’s loud rave music coming from Blue Base. It gives Flowers pause. That’s hardly a way to run a military base, especially since soldiers need their rest. That music was anything but.

He goes in, carefully, squinting at the flashing lights. There’s one lone dancer in the middle of the base, wearing yellow armor. Flowers attempts to get her attention but she doesn’t notice him. 

Slightly confused, he continues on into the base, which has fallen into disrepair and leads him to believe that the dancer might be the only inhabitant. The others must have been transferred. He’d have to look into that.

His armor is right where he left it in the leader’s quarters. There’d been a compartment in the back of the closet where he’d hidden it. Just in case of an emergency. 

It still fit like a glove. And it was a relief to be out of the standard blue armor. 

He glanced around the Leader’s quarters. It looked unused. There was a thin layer of dust forming, but the dust seemed recent. It was there that he found the transfer orders and made note of them. That at least explained why the base was empty. He’d go over them when he had more time.

He headed back out, only to find that the dancer had passed out in the middle of the floor. He ran forward concerned, but she’d only fallen asleep much to his relief. 

It didn’t take long to move her to a bed and toss a blanket over her. Hopefully, she’d sleep soundly. Just to make sure, he turned off the music and the lights.

\--

Red base seemed similarly empty.

Flowers tread lightly however, not wanting to disturb Sarge. The two of them had gotten off to a rocky start and Flowers doubted that things were going to start getting better now.

Considering that there was always something going on at Red base, even if it was just Sarge yelling at his troops (a practice Flowers didn’t agree with), the lack of activity made the area somewhat eerie. 

They must have all been transferred to, Flowers thought, as he wandered around. He hides behind a rock when he hears voices. Sarge must have finished that robot he was building, though Flowers has to wonder why it’s speaking in Spanish. 

He makes a note to look into things a bit deeper. If everyone else got transferred, why didn’t Sarge go? However, the old rascal seems as sprightly as ever so at least Florida doesn’t have to worry about that. Sarge will pull through, he always does.

He leaves the canyon filled with questions.

\--

Florida holes up in a nearby town.

It’s not the same one that Niner lives in, but it’s close enough and he can reach out to a few contacts from here. 

He goes through the transfer orders for the Reds and Blues first. He’s pleased to see that Tucker has work as an ambassador, although he’s curious about how that came around. Church has been moved to another safe location, and Florida can only hope that his guard is better that he was. Otherwise, everything else looks in order, since he can’t say he knew the other members well enough. 

When it comes to Project Freelancer, he had learns that it’s mostly a Recovery program now, reclaiming armor from fallen agents and keeping track of everyone. Really just the bones now. He’s able to see who’s still active at least, who’s missing, who’s dead. It’s weird, looking at things from the outside in. 

But from what he can gather, the people he knew well are all still alive for the most part. The twins, York, Washington, Maine. If that’s the case Florida can live with being the only casualty. Even if it was temporary.

Although the rumors he hears around Maine are nothing short of upsetting. 

There’s a voice in the back of his head reminding him of one more, but he doesn’t go there. Poking around for that information isn’t safe…even if he would like to know. Instead he focuses on everyone else. 

It’s a lot easier to gain information about the project now, for some reason. Normally, the information he’d be looking for would be under lockdown and he’s curious to learn what happened to get them to this point. He wonders if it has anything to do with the failure of the Plan, but the he figures that’s just one more thing in the pile. 

\--

There are days when Florida finds it hard to focus. When silence seems to overtake him. He remembers, vaguely, conversations that he had with Wyoming after Gamma had ejected and before the AI had been given back to him. Wyoming had claimed that it was suddenly too quiet.

Omega was only in his head for a short time, but Florida is surprised by how profound an effect he left behind. It’s scary to think that this is a side-effect felt across the board, and a lasting one at that. 

All the more reason to make sure everyone’s okay.

\--

It’s as he’s leaving town to return home that he sees her. He’d stopped; contemplating far a bus would get him with the amount of money he was carrying when he catches a glimpse of red hair out of the corner of his eye. He turns fast enough to see its owner moving into the crowd at a determined pace and he follows her.

He’s tempted to call out her name, but doesn’t really want to call attention to himself or her. Given that the Project was about to undergo an investigation, Florida wasn’t sure where he stood in regards to that. But if he can just catch up to her.

He looses her on a side street. She turns the corner and by the time he does, having to avoid a few groups of people on the street, she’s gone. He kicks at a stone in frustration. It had to be Carolina. 

Florida is surprised by how relieved he is that she’s still alive, especially since she had been listed as KIA in the Freelancer records. If he’s being honest, he knows he can’t confirm that, but the idea is enough. It means she’ll be all right.

\--  
It’s odd to think of 479er’s place as Home but when Florida thinks about it, that’s all he really has right now. For some reason that doesn’t bother him. There are other freelancers there and really, who else could even begin to understand the things they’d been through except them.

And after all the running around he’s done, Florida is looking forward to putting his feet up.

It’s a rather unceremonious return. He knocks at the door. Niner lets him in with a sigh. Florida is surprised to see that Wyoming is still there, until it dawns on him that Wyoming hadn’t made a complete recovery yet. 

He shares what information he has. Neither of them are particularly interested in the Reds and Blues, but Niner looks relieved to hear that Carolina might be alive. Otherwise, what she knows amounts to what Florida knows and they’re back to square one. But Florida is optimistic. 

If they’re alive, they can be found. If they’re alive, odds are they’ll be all right.

\--

Niner leaves and Florida and Wyoming are left in the room, neither really sure what to say. They haven’t really spoken since their first conversation when Wyoming woke up beyond small talk.

“You look better,” Florida says finally, breaking the silence that was just edging its way into awkward.

“You haven’t seen the scar,” Wyoming replies. “I’m surprised you’re still alive.”

“Yup. Whatever the aliens did, it hasn’t worn off yet. I’ll take it, weird as it is. Kind of easy to move around when you’re a dead man.”

Wyoming nods, and Florida can tell that the whole situation still bothers him. If he’s being honest with himself, he’s bothered as well. By all rights he should be dead, actually dead not revived from the brink of death. But it’s a second chance and he’s determined not to let go.

“I don’t suppose you found out about Tex?” 

“Not really. I heard rumors about a ship that crashed at a simulation outpost, but it was a ways off so investigating was kind of out of the way. I couldn’t find anything concrete beyond the rumors either.”

There’s another silence.

“So, what happens next?”

“I’m thinking I might try to find everyone else. At least, confirm that they’re alive.”

“Why? We were practically at each other’s throats by the end. Plus I think if you bring anyone back, Helena might just end your second life.”

Florida can’t help but smile at the fact that Wyoming and Niner are on a first name basis and the two of them stare at each other for a long while.

“Because things are different. There’s no more leader board, no more project really. Just a bunch of us who’ve been through something no one else has. I just think if we’re together, we might be able to heal. I’ve had an AI to now, remember.”

Wyoming provides another skeptical look, but doesn’t shoot Florida’s idea down, which Florida takes as a victory. 

“I mean, we’ve survived this far, so I think we can take whatever comes next. We’re going to be alright.”


End file.
